Europe

A Russian Orthodox church in Holland said on Saturday it is cutting ties with the patriarchate in Russia and has requested to join the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In a statement posted to its website it said that after a...

In recognizing the Armenia Genocide, US President Joe Biden referred to Constantinople, in a move that raised eye-brows in Greece

A replica wall of the famous Byzantine-era walls of Contantinople was erected outside Hagia Sophia on Thursday as Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that a prayer to commemorate the 567th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople would be...

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that still ''there are people who want to see Istanbul as Constantinople,'' on Saturday. Erdogan was participating in the series of public spectacles and events which Turkey organizes every year on the occasion of the...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated the 556th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) to Ottoman Turk forces on May 29, 1453. In a tweet posted on Wednesday, Erdogan lavished praised on Sultan Mehmed II, whose army breached...

Dozens of Orthodox men dove into Istanbul’s cold waters to retrieve a cross to mark the baptism of Jesus Christ. On Sunday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I led worshipers in the celebration of the Epiphany, throwing a blessed wooden cross into...

By Evagelos Sotiropoulos * Presided over by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople recently announced a number of decisions related to the granting of autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine. The announcement from...

Kenan Özer, the 31-year-old member of the Ankaragücü football team, caused a widespread outcry in Turkey after calling Istanbul its Greek Byzantine-era name of Constantinople. Özer, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet daily, wrote on his personal Instagram account that "The conquest...

In the largest schism in Orthodox Christianity for over a century, the Russian Orthodox Church has cut all ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate over a "historic" decision to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as independent. Metropolitan Hilarion, a bishop in...

Turkey's presidency has released a grandiose video celebrating the fall of Constantinople with a slick, CGI-rich production which links the 1453 Ottoman conquest with the rule of present-day leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Also backed by Istanbul City Council, the video depicts...

Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch, is the latest of world organization leaders to congratulate U.S. President-Elect Trump. His Holiness recently wrote a letter to Trump highlighting his hopes for the new U.S. leader to help build...

By Catherine Tsounis Catherine Tsounis is a published author of Greek descent and a travel enthusiast who gives us insight into the Byzantine influence in Russia through her recent travels there. From late September to early October, I saw the masterpieces...

As Pope Francis is paying a visit to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Phanar here is a timeline of the official meetings of the Primates of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches throughout the centuries, as released by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. There...

The Turkish government plans to turn the Monastery of Stoudios into a mosque. The monastery is one of the most important Byzantine monuments of Constantinople. The restoration of the building will end in 2014, and then it will be converted into a...

A recent study by Bilgi University in Istanbul led to a claim that the first man in history to make a flight was a Greek from Istanbul, then Constantinople, in the 17th Century. Turkish professor of history Sinan Cetin said...